It’s now more obvious than ever that President Bush isn’t as conservative as he made himself look in his first term in office. I think that he appeared and acted very conservatively to get re-elected (isn’t that the goal of all politicians?) and please his republican, some very conservative, base. His stance on immigration with the guest worker program and providing a pathway to citizenship for those that have broken the law shows have liberal some of his views are.
I don’t disagree with the guest worker program as it would (hopefully) reduce those coming across illegally (we’re really only talking about Mexico here as no one really cares much about illegals from other countries). It sounds (at least on the surface) like a decent solution. However, offering a path to citizenship for those that have come here illegally is doing two things that I don’t like: 1) it is encouraging more people to come over illegally and 2) it is rewarding those that have committed a crime. While it hasn’t been a felony to come over illegally (as far as I can tell), it is a crime nonetheless. Do I have a better solution? No. Bush is correct that we can’t just deport the millions of people here illegally. There are no easy solutions to immigration issues.
Knowing congress, no agreement will be reach in the immigration debate for some time, so all the pro and anti illegal immigration rallies and debates are kind of moot.